Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin will not contest next election
Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin will not stand in the next general election.
Mr Ó Caoláin was first elected a TD for the party in 1997.
Addressing party councillors and activists from across Cavan and Monaghan in the Errigal Hotel in Cootehill tonight, the long serving TD and former Monaghan County Councillor, who is the party’s longest serving elected representative, said he was anxious to facilitate a younger generation of republican voices step forward and take up frontline and leadership roles.
Sinn Féin’s sole TD from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Ó Caoláin was appointed his party’s Dáil Leader in 2002, a position he held until 2011 when Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin’s then Party President, was elected for the neighbouring constituency of Louth.
A long time spokesperson on Health and Children issues, Deputy Ó Caoláin has been his party’s spokesperson on Disability Rights and Older People since the 2016 General Election.
In the current Dáil he was appointed Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality, a position he continues to hold.
A Monaghan town native, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is married to Briege and they have five children.
The Cootehill meeting was also addressed by Sinn Féin’s newly elected Party President Mary Lou McDonald T.D. who paid warm tribute to her long serving Dáil colleague and friend.
More to follow...
